The Yin and Yang of social media: Employing PLS-SEM, fsQCA, and NCA to assess its effects on employee work performance

Social media is increasingly becoming essential for professionals, but its workplace influence remains debated, necessitating further examination. This study adopts a Yin-Yang perspective and a mixed-method approach to evaluate the dualistic impact of social media on employee work performance. PLS-SEM assesses the strength and significance of the paths within the hypothesised model. FsQCA determines the configurations of conditions that lead to high performance, and NCA pinpoints necessary conditions and bottlenecks for different performance levels. This mixed methods approach overcomes the limitations inherent in each method and provides a comprehensive understanding of the deeper causal relationships. Specifically, this article verifies that knowledge-sharing behaviours and technostress serve as the Yin and Yang of social media, exerting opposing influences on work performance. Guanxi amplifies the positive effects of social media on knowledge-sharing behaviours. This research also reveals that technostress does not always hinder performance. Like the mutual transformation characteristic of Yin-Yang, it can achieve high performance in some contexts. Moreover, the findings suggest that balancing positive and negative factors is crucial, as both can constrain optimal performance, reflecting duality and balance principles of Yin-Yang.